Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-07-01
THE WAR ON RUM.
Ihe Rapid Growth of Practical Profit;
bitfOn Sentiment in the
Country.
Facts for the Careful Consideration Of
Young Men About Starting
Out in Life.
Trom tha Tolado R1.ao !,

1,,,- From the Toledo Blade1
While there is no doubt that the nroh;.
oltlon sentiment Of the country is increas.
ing rapidly in favor of legislation to erin,
PIE ana TO crush the internal traffic. +.
progress is no less marked in ditferen
nelds' entirely distinct from that occupied
ny me law and lawmakers. In the snc;a
WoFla, the drinking man is still looked mn.
on with more or less tolerance, though The
tlme IS rapidly coming when those who are
connrmed in the habit will find the major.
y OF all respectable doors closed against
!nem. But the most important revolution
IS tnat going on in what may be termed the
business world.
1t is well-known fact that many of the
larger railways Of the country will not EN-.
ploy man addicted to the use Of RIM.
and with whom the cast-iron rule obtains
winch is most rigidly enforced. that anv
employe found under the influence Of
liquor is at once discharged. Such pre-
caution is absolutely necessary for the
satety OF life and property. A switchman
OF orldge- tender, his brain stupefed by the
FUMES OF alcoholic poison, is liable to send
an express train, loaded with it's precious
human freight, down to death without q
moments warning.
The same rule practically obtains in
many large manufacturing establishments
OF the country. It is certain that the work.
man who is habituated to the use of liquor
cannot do as much work, nor that Of as
good quality, as the man who never
touches the poison; his nerves are un-
strungr his hand is not steady, his judg-
ment is poor, his eye is not SO correct. 1t
is but just and natural that the EMPLOYER
should desire the services of the best work
men; and as he who is devotee of rum ia
not SO goSd as the sober man, aud as he
has that most fatal of all defects, unrelia-
bllity, it is no wonder that the drinker is
Disseminated against in favor of the nom
drinker.
Within q few years the best and safest
life insurance companies have been refus-
ing all risks upon the lives of those who
drink habitually. The victim of rum has
far less expectation of lite at any given
age than the sober man. 1t is unfair to the
policy holders who do not use liquor to ad-
init men who drink-unless, indeed, a
much higher premium is exacted. A sober
man at 45 has the same expectation Of life
as a drinking man ut 30. So, as q matter
of simple justice, if risk on the life of the
latter were accepted at all, he should pay
tne same premium as man who is insured
at the age of As. To make such distinc-
s~SA1 80 s@OsN"A PA'SSASOS WOulu D0 lmDOSSl.
Die; hence, the companies do tho next best
thing-which is to refuse risks upon drunk.
ards.
This discrimination against drinking men
is shown most clearly in the operations OF
the many secret societies which have
sprung up OF late years, whose chief pur-
pose is mutual insurance of the lives of
their members. A man who is known to
be regular drinker-to have contracted
the habit, whether as vet he has become an
actual drunkard or not-is debarred from
membership, no matter how desirable an
acquisition he might be to the lodge in all
other respects. Each member in the society
has direct money interest in securing
only the best class of risks; man who
drinks is not desirable. Hence, when the
ballot-box goes. round, those persons
among the members who are acquainted
quietly drop black balls therein, and he is
excluded. There is no public scandal; the
fact of his being black balled is o lodge
secret, and pride and modification on the
part of the candidate prevents his ever
making the fact public.
Outside Of the trades and mechanical
operations, among the vast class of clerks
and office employees, the same rule is prac-
tically becoming more and more enforced.
The merchant wants clear-headed men be-
hind the counter or desk; the great cor
porations require in their offices sober men
of regular habits. 1t is recognized as safe
maxim that Rum opens the door to all kinds
of vice and wrong-doing. The man who
drinks is liable to be spendthrift. While
he is around town of evenings, having what
he denominates a good time" (but which
is in reality very bad time, because it is
r,,s~, go health nd
he spends more money than he would
otherwise. He goes with lively crowd,
like himself under the influence of the ex-
hilirating effects of their rotations, and be-
comes reckless with his purse. Extravagant
habits are very easy to acquire and very
hard TO break. If he can have such good
time from the amount of money which he
spends on that occasion, he reasons that he
would have still better time did he have
more money. Theft or defalcution follows
next in order: exposure and ruin are the
inevitable result, followed by flight or the
prison. Sagacious business men reason
that it is better to avoid these possible
losses and the known unreliability of
drinking men, by securing sober employees
in the first place.
Right here it may be of interest to state
that young men in cities, wherein it would
W pOS6lUl0 1OC lueu W 6tcul OF eluDoZZlo, |
are often kept under strict surveillance of
evenings by their employers. There are in |
large cities detectives who find this one
line of work profitable one, and a source
of continual employment. If the head of
a great firm, or corporation, or bank, has
any reason to doubt the regularity OF life Of
any subordinate in trusted position, he
can, for comparatively moderate fee,
have him Swallowed for week, or month.
or any given time. Each morning the en-
ployer receives written report, beginning
at the time the watched person left his
business on the previous evening. Every
place that he went, every person to whom
he spoke, every door he entered, the length
of time he remained within, the names of
all with whom he was in company-in fact,
every minutia of his life until he reached
his bed, are carefully jotted down for his
edifcation. One would be en-
tirely safe in making the assertion, if such
a young man were found to have bad hab-
its, we're accustomed to spend his evenings
with wild or reckless companions, or were
addicted to drinking, that some pretext
would be found for removing him from his
position and promoting one considered
more worthy of trust.
And this practical Temperance sentiment,
This carrying of the Prohibition idea into
effect in favor of the total abstainer and
against the drinker, is extending year by
year. AS our population increases, the
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